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Donegal manager Bonner eyes Fermanagh after Monaghan postponement

written by Chris McNulty January 7, 2018

DONEGAL manager Declan Bonner has expressed his disappointment at this afternoon’s Dr McKenna Cup postponement against Monaghan.

The fixture was postponed in the interest of player safety. Part of the pitch by the old dressing rooms at St Tiernach’s Park remained frozen and match referee Noel Mooney from Cavan felt there was no other option than to call things off.

Donegal trained for the guts of an hour at the other end of the pitch. Odhran McNiallais was to make a return to the county colours for the first time since 2016.

“The pitch is unplayable especially in that far corner,” Bonner said. “The sun just didn’t get at it and it’s dangerous – there’s no doubt about it.

“In fairness to the referee, Noel Mooney, he thought it would have cleared up with the sun, but it hasn’t. The frost was severe last night and coming up the road this morning it was -5 and -6 in places. I felt myself it could be in doubt, but when lads are away all day, and supporters as well who have travelled, it’s disappointing to be quite honest.

“The postponement doesn’t help. It throws off the entire itinerary of what we are trying to do, but listen it’s out of our control. We can only control what is in our grasp. From our point of view we had done the preparation and done everything ahead of the game. We were really looking forward to it. It was a perfect day for football – bar the pitch being frozen in a few places.”

Donegal now face Fermanagh at MacCumhaill Park on Wednesday night, with former Donegal manager Rory Gallagher now in charge at his native county.

“It’s just a matter of getting back to the drawing board and getting a bit of work done here,” Bonner added. “We’ll have the lads back in tomorrow night in preparation for Wednesday night.

“We’re looking forward to Fermanagh. They’re playing Queen’s today and they would be expected to win that. It’ll be and interesting match on Wednesday night, weather permitting we would like it to go ahead.

“It’ll be a tough test, as it would have been today with Monaghan having a strong team out there. We wanted to test some of these guys today against some of the more experienced Monaghan players. Wednesday is about ourselves and Fermanagh are just another team and another challenge. Fermanagh will probably go into it on top of the group.”

Donegal to be without the services of Michael Langan for a few weeks. The St Michael’s forward scored 1-6 in Wednesday night’s 2-15 to 0-6 Dr McKenna Cup win over Queen’s University.

“Michael Langan picked up a knock on Wednesday night and is to go for a scan tomorrow,” Bonner added. “That could be a few weeks.”

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Chris McNulty

Author of 'Boxing In Donegal: A History (2021)' - the definitive history of the sport in County Donegal - and 'Relentless: A Race Through Time', the 2019 memoir of former Irish Athletics Team Manager Patsy McGonagle. From St Johnston and now based in Letterkenny, Chris was a nominee for NUJ Sports Journalist of the Year in 2010. Honoured by the Donegal Boxing Board in 2016 for his coverage on the sport.

Donegal manager Bonner eyes Fermanagh after Monaghan postponement

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